Friday, July 30, 2010

Top 10 Albums, #6 - The Sinister Urge

#6 Rob Zombie - The Sinister Urge (Geffen, 2001)

The Sinister Urge (named after a film by Ed Wood) is the second studio album by Rob Zombie without his old band, White Zombie. It follows his debut solo album, Hellbilly Deluxe: 13 Tales of Cadaverous Cavorting Inside The Spookshow International, as well as American Made Music To Strip By, a collection of remixes of the songs on Hellbilly Deluxe. Sinister Urge picks up where his first album left off, full of industrial guitars supporting lyrics based on old movies and comic books. The album continues Zombie's obsession with classic horror, featuring samples from movies that the average American moviegoer has never even heard of, including (but not limited to) Horror Rises From The Tomb, I Drink Your Blood, and The Curious Dr. Humpp.

Musically, the album is more experimental than Hellbilly Deluxe, which, aside from audio samples, is more straight-ahead industrial. Sinister Urge features more instrumental variety, including horns, turntables on several songs and string arrangements (most noticeable on "Bring Her Down (To Crippletown)" and "Dead Girl Superstar"). Notable guest appearances on the album include Ozzy Osbourne singing a duet with Zombie on "Iron Head" and a guitar solo on "Dead Girl Superstar" by Slayer's Kerry King. Additional drums were provided by (among others) Tommy Lee from Motley Crue and Josh Freese of A Perfect Circle, Nine Inch Nails and The Vandals. DJ Lethal of Limp Bizkit and formerly of House Of Pain and Mix Master Mike from the Beastie Boys provided the turntables.

I first heard Rob Zombie when the Hot Rod Herman remix of "Dragula" from Hellbilly Deluxe was featured in the movie The Matrix. I listened to the soundtrack for the movie obsessively, and "Dragula"quickly became my favorite track. I bought Hellbilly Deluxe and it was instantly a favorite album. So when Sinister Urge came out I excitedly bought it, expecting more of the same. It took me longer to get into the album than Hellbilly Deluxe, but that time was worth it, as I know consider Sinister Urge to be a superior album, and it remains my favorite Rob Zombie album.